Imagine the Following Scenario

[MindGames]

Imagine the following scenario, that began in 2001 and continued for the next few years in a far-away country. A flawed assessment of the local population's sentiment and the consequences of reconstruction became quickly apparent after the initial American military victory. The belief in a swift, limited war was quickly dispelled when it became apparent that more than the allotted 126,000 troops were needed to crush the rising insurgency and maintain order. Rising disillusionment among the locals increased support for resistance. America had "freed" the country from subjugation, only to find itself embroiled in guerilla warefare. For a country reliant on tribal, clan, ethnic, and religious relationships, importing American democracy became delusional. Economic and political dislocation followed the ultimate military withdrawal after independence. The war ends with more than 4,000 troops killed.

Sounds painfully contemporary doesn't it? Perhaps applicable to either Afghanistan or Iraq? But this was actually the situation when the U.S. first annexed the Philippines in 1901, and the same idealistic platitudes of "democracy and freedom" were our supposed reasons from releasing them from Spanish subjugation. The lesson is that military response does not pacify or transform a society.. unless the people welcome the change and benefit from the invasion, as was true for Europe in 1944.